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Speeding courses for motorists (instructor knowledge)

by brooksby
Thu, Jul 23, 2015 10:33
6

So I was talking to my neighbour, who has just done a course after she was caught speeding. "You ride a bike", she says, "Did you know you're allowed to ride side-by-side, now?" I point out that cyclists have always been allowed to ride two abreast. "No", she replies, "the instructor told us. About two thirds of the class were complaining about cyclists blocking the road all the time, and the instructor said that the law was changed a couple of years ago because too many cyclists were being killed, and that cyclists are now allowed to ride side by side because then cars have to overtake them properly. Its a safety thing."

So there you have it 39

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6 comments

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gonedownhill | 8 years ago
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Yeah that seems to be about right. I had recently read this article when I was at the speeding course which was why I thought I'd bring it up with the guy doing the course.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2014/jul/25/can-cyclist...

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gonedownhill | 8 years ago
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I went to one of these speed awareness courses last summer to avoid the points for speeding. At one point we were discussing different types of vehicles having different speed limits on the same stretch of road and I asked if speed limits applied to bikes (there's a 20mph zone on a downhill on my commute which I break daily, along with >90% of cars).

Although the course leader told me that speed limits do apply to bikes, which I believe to be false, he did at least stick up for cyclists when half a dozen of the class just started ranting about various issues; road tax, 2 abreast etc. One woman on my table just decided to shout "wankers!" despite the fact she'd seen me walk in wearing high vis and carrying a helmet.

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brooksby replied to gonedownhill | 8 years ago
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gonedownhill wrote:

Although the course leader told me that speed limits do apply to bikes, which I believe to be false ...

My understanding is that the general rule is that they do not, but that councils can put some sort of traffic control order in place which affects cyclists too.

(The comments pages on my local 'news'paper are full of people complaining that they have to stick to 20 mph whilst some cyclist overtook them...)

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bikebot replied to brooksby | 8 years ago
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brooksby wrote:
gonedownhill wrote:

Although the course leader told me that speed limits do apply to bikes, which I believe to be false ...

My understanding is that the general rule is that they do not, but that councils can put some sort of traffic control order in place which affects cyclists too.

(The comments pages on my local 'news'paper are full of people complaining that they have to stick to 20 mph whilst some cyclist overtook them...)

Nope, that one came up last year when Southwark suggested that their 20mph limits should apply to cyclists. The answer as with all local by-laws is that they can't contradict national legislation, unless the national government allows such exemptions. The council backed down, confirming that they had now such authority.

For speed limits, the exceptions seems to be the royal parks, probably because of something a bishop did in the 16th century or some such nonsense. And there are forum threads full of discussions as to whether or not it's legal there.

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Cantab | 8 years ago
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A small part of me hopes that this was just the instructor presenting the current situation in such a way that his charges would readily accept and obey. The likelihood of that being the case however... 105

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vonhelmet | 8 years ago
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I attended a "Driver improvement course" about 15 years ago when I was young and stupid and had managed to pull out of a junction without looking properly and written off a Laguna. Even by the low standards that had got me there, I was astounded by how terrible some of the other drivers were... We had to go out in groups with driving instructors to have our driving monitored, so I was in a car with two other drivers, one of whom was a middle aged woman who never got out of third gear even doing 60 on the dual carriageway, and one young lad who had racked up about 6 crashes since passing his test and had finally been sent on a course. It's a bit terrifying, really.

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